- Db2 version 115 adds drivers for leading AI languages to help ease AI app dev with Db2 - New natural language querying and visualization capabilities designed to help speed data search - Updated common SQL engine make Db2 more accessible to more data sources IBM today announced a major upgrade to the Db2 database that is designed to enable enterprises to infuse AI and data science into their database management processes to more easily build AI into applications and gain greater insights from their data Among the many enhancements in Db2 version 115 is built-in support for data science development Through a series of newly-available drivers for multiple open source programming languages and frameworks it will now be easier for developers to analyze and build machine learning models into applications using Db2 The enhancements are designed to help Db2 developers more easily write applications that require less management are more resilient to outages and help improve productivity Today expectations for the database are higher said Prasun Mahapatra senior database administrator at Micro Focus and a Db2 user Databases must be smarter Building out Db2 as the new AI database will enable users to optimize everything from the usage of data structures memory and disk to the most complex queries And the access to such an extensive set of Jupyter Notebooks enables people to kickstart their Db2 development The supported languages include Go Ruby Python PHP Java Nodejs Sequelize In addition there is support for popular frameworks such as Visual Studio Code and Jupyter notebook The latest drivers and code samples for each are available now at GitHub Also new with Db2 115 is the Augmented Data Explorer a new natural language querying feature that is designed to give developers a traditional search engine-like experience Users can pose questions to Db2 and receive results in data visualizations and summaries written in natural language for easy understanding In addition the tool which is containerized for easy deployment and management features dynamic visualization which can help speed the exploration of datasets when building applications In addition to these advances Db2 users and developers will be able to take advantage of the new capabilities in IBMs Data Virtualization technology already available with IBM Cloud Private for Data Data Virtualization is designed to enable users to easily search across diverse data sources With it developers and data engineers can focus on development minimizing time spent on extract transform and load ETL processes that are associated with moving data Db2 now also includes BlockChain support that helps application developers pull data directly from a BlockChain and combine that data with other data sources for analytics or dashboards The extended language support and new capabilities are part of a broader strategy to further advance the IBM Hybrid Data Management portfolio of Db2 solutions into the era of AI As organizations work to become nimble theyre looking for more ways to reduce the expensive and time-consuming processes required to prepare data to be analyzed and write applications Streamlined Portfolio Shared Code Base With the addition of Db2 115 IBM has streamlined the portfolio to three editions that share the same common code base Db2 Db2 Standard and Db2 Advanced IBM Db2 is a no charge download for trials and developers and is intended for a single application developer to use to design build test and prototype applications for deployment on Db2 client or server platforms This edition includes all of the capabilities of Db2 but has specific hardware limitations 1 Db2 Standard is designed for production systems in medium-sized businesses and departments within large organizations Db2 Advanced is designed for medium-to-large businesses and optimized for transactional and operational analytic workloads Db2 Advanced has no compute or storage limitations and can be deployed on physical and virtual servers It is delivered as part of the IBM Hybrid Data Management Platform enabling administrators to access capabilities beyond the transactional database with greater ease Because each edition shares the same common code base users can easily upgrade and scale from the no charge edition to Standard and Advanced as their needs change For existing Db2 clients all licenses can be converted to Db2 version 115 In addition Db2 115 features an updated common SQL engine that enables users to access data from a growing number of data sources For example with Db2 115 users can access data from any existing Db2 family offerings including IBM Db2 Warehouse IBM Db2 Big SQL IBM Integrated Analytics System and existing IBM PureData for Analytics Netezza systems In addition Db2 users can access Oracle Teradata and Microsoft SQL Server as well as new cloud sources like Amazon Redshift The advances weve made to Db2 today are reflective of our clients growth and the acceleration of AI adoption we all expect said Daniel Hernandez Vice President IBM Data and AI No longer a traditional system of record or datastore the database is rapidly becoming a distinct component of the AI strategy and Db2 is that AI database About IBM Data and AI For more information go to https wwwibmcom analytics